Fortune 500: 10 Best Companies To Work For In 2013

On Monday, Fortune magazine released the Fortune 500, its annual ranking of the 500 wealthiest publicly traded U.S. companies. You can learn a lot from the businesses that dominate the list, like the fact that America loves oil, credit cards, and cars. But for your average job-seeking American, there's an important detail missing: Which of these companies would you actually want to work for?

So Fortune magazine looked at which of the Fortune 500 also appeared on their best-companies-to-work-for list this year, which takes into account factors such as work-life balance, training, pay and turnover. So if you like the stability, benefits and opportunities offered by extremely rich corporations, but don't like the bureaucracy, invisibility or slow-pace that sometimes dog them, check out Fortune's top picks below.

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Whole Foods is known as an ethical company when it comes to its food, from locally-sourced produce to lovingly raised chickens. But its heart extends to its employees too, giving them a better starting pay than their competitors and encouraging them to move up.

Darden Restaurants is a curious find on this list, since the parent company of casual eating favorites Red Lobster, Olive Garden, The Capital Grille and LongHorn Steakhouse has been sued repeatedly by employees for wage theft, discrimination and other alleged sins. But it seems that many employees are more than happy on the job, including 135,000 part-timers, Fortune points out, to whom Darden offers low-cost health insurance.

"You will want to make a career here," says a current Marriott employee in enterprise operations. By most accounts, Marriott is just incredibly well-run: open and encouraging management, reasonable policies, great pay and benefits, superb discounts on hotel rooms for family and friends. On the downside, working for a major hotel chain means sometimes working weekends and holidays, and moving to a new town if you want to climb the ladder.

"I enjoy coming to work every day and I have a lot of best friends at work," wrote a current Stryker engineer on Glassdoor.com. And while some employees gripe that they're slightly underpaid, everyone gushes about the drive and integrity of their co-workers. Fortune notes that the medical device manufacturer also tries to keep the culture fun with ping pong tables and "pie-your-manager" contests.

For a company so large, American Express offers its employees an impressive level of flexibility, according to reports on Glassdoor.com, including the opportunity to work evenings and weekends or from home. The financial services firm also has won numerous accolades for its commitment to diversity.

"Fast paced and performance based," writes a Devon Energy senior systems administrator on Glassdoor.com. "You are very well rewarded for delivering and meeting your goals." And that's in addition to the top-of-the-line salaries and benefits at this Oklahoma City-based oil and gas producer. And like many of the companies on this list, the openness of the C-suite sets it apart. Fortune reports that President and CEO John Richels sometimes calls up employees to thank them for good work.

Employees at the oil and gas exploration and production company, from geologists to truck drivers to IT support, enjoy an extensive benefits package, including a 401(k) match of up to 15 percent. Workers at the Oklahoma City campus say it's beautiful, and that its onsite restaurants are remarkably good. Employees also enjoy regular bonuses, and in 2011, 8,000 of them received $8 million in bonuses simply for following safe practices, Fortune reports.

This electronics company has made it onto Fortune's best-companies-to-work-for list for years, in addition to winning accolades for its training opportunities and the leg up it offers interns and entry-level staff. Employees on Glassdoor.com say the work is cutting edge, the benefits generous, and the culture welcoming, although perhaps not as hip as other tech firms.

At this data storage company, "everything just works," says one former senior analyst on Glassdoor.com. That includes training opportunities, time off to volunteer, competitive salaries, and flexibility. Others praise how accessible the executives are, and Fortune reports that Vice Chairman Tom Mendoza calls 10 to 20 employees into his office everyday to personally thank them for their work.

There's nary a best-place-to-work list that Google hasn't topped. The perks of working at the world's most popular website, including free gourmet sushi and free haircuts, have become the stuff of legend. So much so that it's subject of an upcoming movie starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.

Google is even developing a new mega-campus, so perfectly designed that every employee will purportedly be able to work by natural light, without any glare on their screens. In fact, the only thing that employees seem to complain about is that all the employees are so amazing that they're too amazing for their jobs.

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I think it was NBC in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. It has been so long, I don't remember! I tried a couple of times during my working days....and never did I get in. If I did, I would of been so very happy and still working, I am sure

Hadley. although Steven`s story is unbelievable, on friday I got a great new GMC from earning $9319 this-past/month and over ten/k this past-month. it's realy the best work Ive had. I started this 3 months ago and practically straight away began to bring in minimum $69 per/hr. I went to this site, All29.com

funny, the only food chain I have been tha all th employees semm to be happy is Chic_fil_a. Even the last time at olive garden right after hours were cut to avoid Obama care, they were not a happy bunch.

I just love that picture of Olive Garden, which is taken in Times Square. I am a New Yorker, and I find it hilarious that millions of people visit NYC each year, and some of them choose to eat at an Olive Garden! Wow. Why travel for that?

I agree. With so many great INEXPENSIVE quality restaurants in NYC it baffles me. Most American tourists are afraid of trying something new.,unlike the Europeans. Try some of the restaurants on 9th Avenue. They will surprise you. For Italian, try Amarone on 9th Ave near W. 47th. The food is great, price is right and great attentive service.